I have personally flew a peanut gore haul ass boat back in 2001 and destroyed it, i have also put a deck over on its rudders, and had countless step boats flutter at 90+. This thread really dosnt apply to the average boat owner with the average round bottom boat do to the fact it isnt gonna run fast enough nor pack enough air to get it to lift...yes most of you guys boats act wierd at top speed of maybe 50mph and you think its gonna fly but it is going anywhere i promise you, the only thing you need to be concerned about is it taking a hard left when running that fast, not flying.

I think where you run along with hull style would apply too. Run down south and hit some of those patches of needle grass then transition back to the water pockets too fast and see what happens. The grass will give you a surprising amount of lift. And when you see a step hull chattering at a high rate of speed I think it is basically flying. Jmo

Dick Hoffman would fly his boat with a wing on the bow of his boat. DavieGSO480 could explain it better than me but tape short lengths of yarn to the inside of the grass rake and bow of the boat then run the boat and note any of the yarn standing straight up, then use a spoiler on the top edge of the rake to combat the lift and make the yarn lay flat.

Sounds like there's two options and two kinds of airboat operators. 1. Run slow enough to stay in control and be excited that you're not only a boat owner, but look at all the beauty and freedom. 2. Go like heck knowing in the back of your mind that at any moment it can all to go hell. And when it does, before you hit the water and get run over by your own boat, think to yourself, damn, I wish I had slowed down.

Sounds like there's two options and two kinds of airboat operators. 1. Run slow enough to stay in control and be excited that you're not only a boat owner, but look at all the beauty and freedom. 2. Go like heck knowing in the back of your mind that at any moment it can all to go hell. And when it does, before you hit the water and get run over by your own boat, think to yourself, damn, I wish I had slowed down.

Much of it has to do with hull shape, hull weight and speed. It seems to me that most boats cruise around the 30-40 MPH range. With that in mind if you regularly run at 50 MPH you wont have much fun cause you will constantly be running away from the folks you ride with. Now I am sure there are some light boats that will be getting squirrely at 50 MPH and some will still have a degree of stability.

Wind direction and speed have much to do with it too. If you are cruising at 50 MPH in a 20MPH headwind you got 70MPH wind into the bow of the boat. Theres a LOT of boats won't handle 70 MPH.

Also, water surface condition will have an input as well. If you are up on top in waves, the bow gets pushed up at every wave. the faster you run onto the waves the more the boat gets tossed upward.

When and where the boat is actually going to become airborne is anybodies guess. How fast over the water, how fast through the air, how much wave, what direction the wind is from, how much the boat weighs, what is the shape of the hull and probably a couple hundred other factors.

Knowing how a wing on an airplane works, I would think that a full deck boat would get airborne sooner than an open boat. I would think that a boat with a lengthwise crown or rounded bottom with turn chines will remain stable a little longer than a purely flat bottom. No matter it takes a low air pressure area over the boat and a high air pressure under the boat to get airborne.

I'm sure the air temperature will have a defined effect on when the hull heads skyward as well. Cold dense air produces more lift than hot humid air.

Just thinking out loud here. Probably most folks that have survived flying a hull have no clue about all the details that came together at that exact moment when it took to the air. If they do they are a genius at multitasking.

You know, as I think about it , it seems that in the late 60's Northrop Grumon was working on retractable wings for a ( Flying Airboat ) to be used in the wet lands of Southeast Asia...

Seems to me it was one of those goofy things you see in Popular Science, and NEVER see or hear of again, if there are plans for a ( Flying Airboat ) only the Pentigon knows for sure, and they ain't sharing them with any of us...

I ran with a guy that had one close to airborne. Buford ran Big Block Chevy gearbox and a 3 blade a few years ago on a cut down 11 foot Hamant hull. They had it at 90 something mph according to a handheld gps. They got scared but they did say it felt like it was fixing to take off.

This is about not flying your boat not how to. Its not an un-safety thread.

_________________"The Constitution is not so the government can restrain the people, it is so the people can restrain the government." Patrick Henry The government cannot give anything --that they have not first taken from someone else.

I have went airborne a couple of times First time was with a quarter inch plywood boat With a flapper on the back when they come up its like the brakes. Come no it pushes you down in the deck because. It is slowing. Down. So quick and then the impact. Which I was always lucky The second time was in my tunnel. Hull. Yeah it was just like the unlimited Hydro's you see on TV was lucky again. I guess what I am trying to say A lot of going airborne is due to the terrain in which you are driving in open water is the most drag on the bottom whereas different types of vegetation or grass can make you lift sooner

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